


1 + 1 = uh... guys?

by TheUltimateFanGirl7



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Adrien Agreste Redemption, Aged-Up Character(s), Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, F/F, F/M, Gabriel Agreste Is Not Hawk Moth, Good Parent Gabriel Agreste, Massive Miraculous Team, Serial Adoption, because it's pretty much set in the future, but most of them are kids, he totally spoils his grandchildren, how is nobody questioning this?, like seriously, not the readers, the Parisians, you guys have a problem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23075344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUltimateFanGirl7/pseuds/TheUltimateFanGirl7
Summary: In retrospect, it was all Lila's fault. If she hadn't been there to set off the dominoes, none of this would have happened. But it did. And now Bruce Wayne isn't the world's biggest serial adopter. He may have been the first, but Adrien and Marinette seem to have set out to take the title away from him. And they're succeeding. Dick and Chloe just want to know what elderly lady they spat on in a previous life that this is what they have to deal with now. Babs is just cackling manically in the background, and Adrinette just wants to make sure Damien is eating enough and sleeping properly. Meanwhile, Plagg is contemplating the pros and cons of surprise adopting -"shut up Tikki, it's not kidnapping" - the kid."Good kwami, you guys have enough as it is! Stop trying to adopt other people's children!" -Chloe Bourgeois
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois/Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 45
Kudos: 357





	1. Adrinette

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Miraculous Parents (probably on hiatus forever. Can be read as oneshots though)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6490951) by [fullmetalpotterhead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullmetalpotterhead/pseuds/fullmetalpotterhead). 



> Hey everyone! I know this is a new story when I said I wasn't doing very good at finishing stories, but then inspiration hit and I just had to put pen to paper. Or... fingers to keyboard. I can't promise consistent updates, but I'm feeling good about this story.
> 
> It's inspired by another story I read where Marinette and Adrien had a bunch of kids. As I was reading it, I just kept thinking, "what if they had a hoard of adopted kids and met the Batfam?" and this idea was born. I don't remember what that story was called, but it should be linked on here somewhere.
> 
> If anyone else wants to use this prompt, please feel free! I'd love to read more stories like this, just send me a message or something so I can.
> 
> The prompt:  
> Batman crossover where Adrienette adopts, like, a /ton/ of kids for various reasons, and they all superhero too (post-identity reveal, this is set in the future, obviously), and then for some reason they meet the Batfam (Dick, Stephanie, or Babs first) and they're like, "we thought Bruce had a problem but wow!" and then they interact and get close and whatever, of course identity reveal happens at some point, and whatever, unless you want just a one-shot that ends with the whole, "we thought Bruce..." thing
> 
> One more thing, I suffer from severe depression, so I know how much the smallest things can lighten a soul. at the beginning of each chapter, I plan to chare a little something funny or inspirational or both. Maybe a fun fact. Antyhing to brighten your day:
> 
> "One day when we were in that car, my brother was riding shotgun and my dad was driving so I was in the back. Well, my dad and sibling-unit were having a conversation. My dad asked me if I was paying attention to their conversation, and I said yes and wen to prove it by saying what they were talking about, only to realize I couldn't because I had no idea what they were talking about because I hadn't been paying attention." -M
> 
> Chow for now ~TheUltimateFanGirl7

It was all Lila’s fault, really. If she hadn’t come along and butted into their lives with her ridiculous stories and false promises, then this never would have happened. Unfortunately, she did. And in doing so, she set off a chain of events that would bring us to here, now, with Marinette Agreste holding a sniffling toddler tight to her side as the Joker monologued and laughed maniacally in the background. Wait a moment, let me back up a bit.

As I said, it all started with Lila. When they were thirteen, Lila had come to Francois Dupont with fabulous tales of amazing travels and close friendships with celebrities. The thing is, that’s all they were: tales. The problem arose when the class had conveniently forgotten how the internet worked which, when combined with the fact that they had left the communal brain cell lying around somewhere and no one quite knew where, meant that everybody believed Lila’s tales quite easily and happily and all rushed to do her bidding. All except two.

You see, Lila’s first mistake was to try and lie about being besties with the Parisian superheroine Ladybug… where said Parisian superheroine could hear her. Ladybug was quick to call out Lila’s lies, but the problem was only one person was around: one Adrien Agreste. Now, two people were aware of the truth. The thing is, Adrien had been homeschooled by an emotionally constipated, workaholic recluse, and so thought that the best solution was to do nothing. His ignorance and desire to please and make everyone get along was his mistake. He convinced the one other person who Knew, Ladybug, or her civilian identity Marinette, to do nothing as well. The thing is, Lila knew that Marinette knew the truth, and before Adrien got to her, Marinette had been determined to prove it. This led to Lila’s second mistake.

Lila’s second mistake was to bully and isolate Marinette. She would not stand to be challenged, to be defied, and so she became aggressive and fought back with everything she could. Lila turned the class against Marinette. She turned the school faculty against Marinette. She lied and lied and lied and convinced everybody that the sweet bluenette was a lying, cheating, cruel bully. And everybody believed it happily. It didn’t matter that they’d known her since they were children. It didn’t matter that they’d been the best of friends. It didn’t matter that they’d shared everything. It didn’t matter that she’d done everything for them for free, questionless, and sacrificed all her free time and even a large amount of her own money for them. It didn’t matter, because Lila said it didn’t. I mean sure, she didn’t say those exact words, but everyone was just so happy to believe whatever Lila said, that she didn’t have to. It didn’t matter that Marinette had been commissioned by Jagged Stone. It didn’t matter that she’d won Gabriel Agreste’s design competition. It didn’t matter that Audrey Bourgeois had personally requested Marinette to be her apprentice. It didn’t matter that Marinette’s work was so good that XY had stolen it. It didn’t matter that Clara Nightingale had worked with her before on a music video. It didn’t matter, because Lila had so many fantastic stories to tell that they forgot all about their sweet classmate until Lila reminded them of how horrible she was to her. This was just the stepping stone to Lila’s third mistake.

Lila’s third mistake was to take her aggressive actions a step further and begin subtly encouraging the class to lash out against the innocent designer physically. Before long, the bluenette was bruised all over from punches and slaps and being pushed into tables, chairs, shelves, lockers, other people, anything really. She had to keep all her valuables locked away, hidden, at home because they were being stolen and damaged. The verbal abuse spewed at her nearly drove her to suicide. She had to get a new phone number and delete all of her social media accounts because of the cyberbullying she had to endure.

Lila’s fourth mistake was to take advantage of the kindness ingrained in her target. She whispered to Alya and Nino that they should take the babysitting money their parents gave them and go on dates, foisting the children off on to Marinette free of charge because she wouldn’t say no. This was the mistake that really did it. This one, little, itty-bitty seeming mistake is what set off the dominoes that led us to where we are today, but we’ll talk more on that later, there’s still more backstory to fill in.

Chloe didn’t make a mistake. Well, no, that’s not quite true, but all her mistakes were caused by an entitled upbringing with no solid parental figure and a mother who didn’t know her own daughter’s name when she could be bothered to be around at all. So yes, Chloe made mistakes, but those are easily forgiven and forgotten. What Chloe did was make a correction. She watched silently as the sweetest, most cheerful girl in the class faded into a drab, depressed shadow of herself under the harassment of their classmates. Then, she stood up and did something about it. She didn’t fight back verbally. She didn’t threaten anyone with her father. She didn’t tell any adults whatsoever. No, Chloe wasn’t stupid. She figured out quite quickly that Lila was lying, but she also figured out quite quickly that Marinette knew as well and that was what caused Lila to target her. Chloe didn’t want that to happen to her. The thing is, that wasn’t the only reason she didn’t act visibly. As I said, Chloe was smart. She knew that if she tried anything, the class wouldn’t believe her because she herself had never been a good person before. So instead, she went to the bakery after school. Mme. Cheng and M. Dupain were understandably wary, she had spent her childhood bullying their beloved daughter after all, but when she explained herself they visibly softened and ushered her upstairs.

Chloe’s apology didn’t change anything. But it did. Now, when Lila started off on another great tangent, Marinette and Chloe would exchange a look and an eye roll, or a small, secret, smile. Now, when Marinette was tormented to the brink of akumitization or suicide, she would go to Le Grand Paris and break down behind the locked doors of Chloe’s suite. When she had exhausted her supply of tears, Chloe would wipe her face with a cool cloth and pull her into a board game, or a talk about anything from a recent TV episode to the latest celebrity gossip to their science homework the night before. Sometimes, Mari wouldn’t be up for words, so the two girls would just sit in silence together and enjoy the company of the other. Sometimes, the bluenette would stay the night and they’d do all the cliche sleepover activities: mani-pedis, cringy movie binge, junk food, and boy talk. I said Chloe’s apology didn’t change anything, and the truth is, it didn’t. Chloe was still the mean, privileged Mayor’s daughter. Marinette was still her old rival. But so much was different behind closed doors. Now, Marinette had somebody she could talk to and take comfort with. Now, she was no longer alone.

Chloe’s second correction was actually the beginning of Adrien’s own. She kidnapped her old friend for lunch one day and sat him down to talk about Lila. She very carefully explained why his approach to the situation was wrong. It took her a couple of tries, but in the end, she watched with satisfaction as realization dawned on his face. She gave him some space to process for a few days, and then she kidnapped him for lunch again. He was still reeling from their last conversation, but she could see she had clearly gotten through to him and he would take her words to heart once he’s finally calmed down and been able to rationalize everything she’d said. Lunch that day was a relatively quiet affair, but they were okay with that.

Adrien’s correction came swiftly after. He approached Marinette one day, pulling her aside on her way home, requesting to speak to her away from prying eyes and ears. He apologized, explained why he had chosen the situation he had. She understood, she told him with a sad smile. Her crush had faded when he had made his decision in the whole Lila debacle, but she was willing and happy to be his friend.

Adrien’s second correction wasn’t actually as Adrien, but as his superhero counterpart Chat Noir. After another Akuma that would have been defeated much quicker and easier if not for Chat’s flirting, Plagg sat him down and forced him to listen as he taught the boy about sexual harassment. Adrien listened to his kwamii with growing dread and mounting horror. He hadn’t realized what he’d been doing to his partner, and he vowed to stop and apologize immediately. He awoke rather suddenly later that night, his eyes snapping open and his heartbeat thudding rapidly in his chest, with the realization that Lila had been sexually harassing him. The next night, Chat Noir apologized honestly and profusely to his partner Ladybug, explaining that he hadn’t known and if he had he never would have done it. She simply smiled and said it was alright, he hadn’t known and was clearly repentant. She admitted that a little bit of his joking and playful flirting in moderation was actually pretty okay. There were a lot of hugs and tears that night.

What happened next was the first leap into today. Ladybug and Chat Noir sat in a silent embrace on the Eiffel Tower for a long time that night, before Chat brokenly asked Ladybug what he should do about the girl who was sexually harassing him in his civilian life. The heroine went suddenly tense in his arms, and he pulled away thinking perhaps he’d said or done something wrong, only to find her glaring wide-eyed and blankly past him.

“Chat…” She whispered. They sat in complete silence for a while, broken only by the sounds of the city around them. “Who?”

“My Lady, our identities-” he had said, only to be cut off by her sharp,

“I don’t care. Somebody is hurting you and I want to know who it is.”

He almost didn’t say anything, until,

“Lila Rossi.”

Ladybug sat stock-still, staring at him for a few long, drawn-out moments as his fears grew and mounted.

“Adrien?” She whispered. 

He went ridged, and that was all the confirmation she needed before her transformation was falling away in a flash of pink light and his friend and classmate was sobbing in his arms. They cried a lot more that night, high up on the top of the Eiffel Tower, and when morning came anew, so too were they reborn with the first rays of dawn’s sunrise. Their relationship had changed. They weren’t quite sure what it was, but it was so much more than before.

And now it’s high time we went back to Lila’s fourth mistake, and how it brought us to where we are in the present. As you may recall, Lila’s fourth mistake was manipulating Alya and Nino to have Marinette babysit for them all the time. Well, it was on one such occasion that Adrien happened to come over for some quality bonding time with his whatever-they-were. When he first walked into her room, he had spent a great deal of time just kinda staring blankly at the three children playing happily together with Marinette’s handmade hero and Akuma dolls. Marinette snickered when she saw him watching the children, almost trance-like.

“You okay there, Kitty?” She asked.

“Hmm?” He hummed absentmindedly, eyes never leaving the playing children. The sound of a camera going off caused him to tear his gaze away from the children and brought it to rest on his smirking partner.

“Kitty?” She asked, waving her phone with the picture she’d just taken in his face. He grabbed her wrist and pouted at her before focussing on the photo. His breath hitched as he took in the sight. She had caught him with an expression of the perfect cross between wistful and sad and happy and something pure but indescribable.

“My Lady…” He whispered. “Let’s get married.”

His comment was met with absolute silence from his partner, causing him to glance up at her. She was staring at him, gaping in slack-jawed shock.

“Adri… Adri… WhAt?” She finally made out.

“Let’s get married. We’re eighteen. It’s legal now.”

“Adrien… why?”

His gaze slid back to the picture on her phone, only to find that the phone had shut off. Instead, he stared at the black screen with that same wistful look on his face.

“I want children. And there’s no one I’d rather have them with than you, My Lady.” He said quietly.

Her face softened.

“Oh, Kitty.” She tucked her phone into her pocket and hugged him close to her, pulling him with her to the floor. They sat like that together for quite a while, the children Mari was babysitting mostly forgotten even though they were only a few feet away.

“Alright.” She said.

“Hmm?” He asked, turning to her with a furrowed brow.

"Alright. Let’s get married.”

“Really?” He asked slowly, carefully, as a giant grin grew on his face.

“Really.” She said, with a small smile herself. “But I’m not ready for kids just yet. You’ll have to wait a few years for that.”

The answering beam he threw her lit up the room more than the sun itself could.

Linebreak<>kaerbeniL

Telling Chloe turned out to be both easier and harder than they had expected. All things considered, she took it fairly well. Of course, the fact that her wife Kagami was there probably helped.

“Don’t you think you may have skipped a step or two?” The wielder of the dragon miraculous asked.

“You two are being ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous!” Her wife exclaimed.

“Maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves a little bit,” Marinette said, wringing her hands together as she leaned against Adrien. “But we want this, and honestly I think we’ve known deep down somewhere it was inevitable for a while now. We’ve just been putting it off for some reason or another.”

The two girls across from them exchanged a look, before sighing in unison and turning back to there idiotic friends and teammates.

“Fine. Alright. Whatever. You’re both legal adults, there’s nothing we could do to stop you anyway.” Kagami muttered, looking utterly exhausted. Chloe just nodded and huffed, before stalking out of the room. Kagami glanced at them apologetically before gracefully rising and striding out after her irate spouse. The remaining two sat there for a while, just looking at the door their friends had exited through.

“Well that went rather well, I thought,” Adrien spoke up suddenly. He received a wack on the arm from his fiancee in response. He simply burst out into deep laughter, joined shortly after by her bell-like giggles.

Linebreak<>kaerbeniL

Telling their parents definitely could have gone better. They hadn’t actually told Adrien’s father. He was too busy with work, so they told Nathalie. She watched them with a rather vacant expression for a time, as if waiting for them to suddenly yet out ‘Psych!’ and admit it was all a big joke. When they didn’t, she instantly called her boss and told him he was needed at home immediately to deal with an emergency, Code Adrien. He arrived pretty quickly, all things considered. They repeated to him exactly what they had told Nathalie: that they were getting married and all the reasons why - though without mention of the miraculous. When they were finished, Adrien’s father seemed almost to have gone into shock. After a moment or two, he blinked himself out of his stupor and pleaded with them to reconsider. After all, they were young, they’d never dated, Adrien was in the limelight all the time and had tons of rabid fans. Anything he could think of to get them to go back on their decision he threw at them in that meeting. But they were stubborn and refused to back down, countering each of Gabriel’s reasons with the perfect back-strike: yes they were young, but why continue to put off what they’d known was inevitable since they were fourteen? True, they’d never dated, but again: they’d always known it was inevitable. While it’s true Adrien is always being looked at and scrutinized because of the fame brought upon him by his modeling, Marinette was a rising designer who’d worked for Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale, who’d been praised by Audrey Bourgeois and even Gabriel himself. So what if Adrien had rabid fans? That’s what the police were for. If his fans couldn’t be happy for him and decided to try and attack Marinette, then they’d find themselves in a lot of legal trouble. Besides, Mari could take care of herself. Eventually, Gabriel was forced to admit defeat and back down. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose to stave off his growing headache before agreeing to support their decision and welcome Marinette to the family.

The less said about Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng’s reactions, the better. Adrien swears to this day that the trauma of the event had forever affected his psych and he probably needed therapy to deep with the lasting PTSD the encounter had given him. Marinette always said he was overreacting, but she, too, stubbornly refused to ever speak of when they told her parents they were getting married at eighteen.

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Telling the news was actually pretty simple and easy compared to everything else they’d had to deal with since getting engaged. They simply Chittered about their excitement for their upcoming wedding and then locked themselves away at Chloe and Kagami’s until the media mess died down. Which honestly didn’t take very long. The combined forces of Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Gabriel Agreste, Mayor Bourgeois, Chloe Bourgeois-Tsurgi, and Kagami Tsurgi-Bourgeois was enough to make even the deadliest of reporter sharks back down. Many of them would deny till beyond their deathbeds that it wasn’t those six, but Sabine Cheng and Nathalie Sancoeur that had truly been their reason for admitting defeat.

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As an engagement gift, Adrien quietly arranged for Lila to be deported back to Italy. If the police and Italian embassy suddenly found an anonymously sent file full of evidence of Lila’s bullying, harassment, truancy, and just plain lies that could land her under a mountain of lawsuits for defamation and slander, then nobody ever had to know. Of course, the note from Chat Noir expressing concern because of how often and how easily Lila found herself akumitized certainly didn’t help her case. Needless to say, the embassy did their best to quietly rush the problematic child back to Italy for a court hearing and sentencing based on all the claims made in the file. As far as all their old classmates were concerned, Lila had simply gone to travel the world for her charity work.

Alya and Nino found themselves in trouble with their parents for always foisting the children off onto Marinette. Etta, Ella, and Chris were more than happy to tell and retell the engagement story over and over again to anyone who would listen. The three children who had started it all were even invited to the wedding, though their older siblings had been banned from the event for fear of how they might lash out. Their years spent as Lila’s sheep had twisted them into people that Adrien and Marinette were sad to say they could not recognize.

Linebreak<>kaerbeniL

The wedding itself was actually a pretty simple affair. Marinette designed her dress, a simple white satin piece that fell loosely to her ankles and had long sleeves and a sweetheart neckline, and her parents baked the cake. The only people there were their closest friends and family, as well as Ella, Etta, Chris, and their parents. The ceremony was short and the reception held in the same park as the wedding: across the street from her parent’s bakery. Decorations consisted of the natural beauty of the park, some pale pink and silver ribbons, and a lovely white lattice arbor woven through with roses and daffodils.

They honeymooned in Bordeaux with Tikki, Plagg, and Kaalki. They were lucky enough to only be called back twice during their three-week vacation. For the most part, their stay in Bordeaux was relaxing, peaceful. They enjoyed the opportunity to relax and enjoy themselves and each other. As the end of the third week drew near, they were just about finished wrapping up their vacation. Of course, that was the moment that the universe decided to remind them that they were accompanied by the pocket-sized god of misfortune. Luckily, they were also accompanied by the pocket-sized goddess of good luck. The problem lay in how the universe decided to balance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Feedback is always welcome, as criticism is the root of improvement.
> 
> I know I put the prompt for this story at the top, but I'm going to have a writing prompt at the end of every chapter that I may or may not have incorporated into the chapter. These will just be prompts (I created or based on things that I find somewhere or that happen around me in my life) that I might write a story for someday but would love to read myself. Most of them are intended for Miraculous, some Batman crossover, but not all, and you can use them for any fandom you want. If they were created for a specific fandom and I can't really see it being as good anywhere else, I'll give the fandom, but that doesn't mean you can't use it elsewhere if you want, or even as the prompt for a prompt.  
> The only thing is I want to read these stories, so please let me know if you use the prompt! I don't necessarily need credit for the prompt, but just a message that you used it so I can read it would be awesome!
> 
> This chapters prompt is:  
> Song-based fic -> People Like Us by Kelly Clarkson


	2. Adelyn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The universe tilts and balances, the hoard begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, school's been cancelled for the month, and today it occurred to me that I could be doing something productive, like writing fanfiction, instead of just lying in bed and staring at the ceiling and occasionally plotting murder (my therapist says that's normal, I think I need a new therapist), so I decided to pound out another chapter of this story. It's only about half the length of the last one, but I couldn't really stretch it anymore, and I felt that adding on anything else would just make it drag. Also I'd end up with a huge change in going-ons that a line break just does not work for.  
> Also, just a warning, but I've never written an action scene before, so it might suck. I did my best, but I've no idea how it turned out.
> 
> Chow for now ~TheUltimateFanGirl7
> 
> A conversation between my history teacher and I about ancient Japan:  
> "The Samurai were were trying to take over the feudal states, promising peasants protection in exchange for loyalty, much like-" "mobs" "-feudal lords." "...or mobs."
> 
> Bonus quote because of CoVid-19:  
> "You have to use soap when you wash your hands, because otherwise you just get wet bacteria." -Cas

It was two days before they were supposed to go home. They were enjoying a late lunch at a small cafe they had frequented during their stay, when everything went wrong. The cafe was situated across the street from a rather prestigious bank. Adrien was just getting ready to inhale his eighth crescent, when the bank front blew out into the street. What followed after was a mess of dust, smoke, and screaming. Rubble littered the street and sidewalk, a few bodies strewn among the mess. A bunch of men in dark clothing stepped out of the dust cloud that had replaced the street-side wall of the bank. They all carried guns of various sizes, from hand pistols to assault rifles. Several had bulging sacks slung over their shoulders. One was carrying a sobbing child. Marinette and Adrien exchanged a look. Mari raced across the street, dodging rubble, corpses, and confused bystanders alike, her eyes scanning the robbers. Adrien gave one last forlorn look to his dust-covered crescent and sprinted after her.

Mari went for the one holding the child first. She knew that they had to rescue the hostage before anything else, so that he or she could not be used against them. Adrien, like the reckless human shield slash bait slash projectile he is, went straight for the man standing point, barking orders to his fellow robbers.

A quick kick to the crotch disabled the kidnapper, the child pulled away from him and placed on Mari’s shoulders as the other robbers broke out of their shock over being attacked and rushed her. The first one to come at her used his bag of stolen money as a bludgeoning weapon. Marinette ducked down, careful of the child she bore, and swept a leg out, knocking her attacker’s feet out from under him. A quick kick to the head knocked him out. She spun around, lashing out a fist at the same time, hitting the man who had snuck up behind her in the jaw. He narrowed his eyes at her and swung his fist towards her in an effort to return the punch. Mari caught his punch and kneed him where it hurt, much like she had the kidnapper.

Clear of opponents for a moment, she rushed to place her precious cargo behind a particularly large block of rubble. Looking over her shoulder at Adrien’s fight, tracking his progress and waning strength, she turned back to the child. Mari took a moment to observe the child, a girl with blonde hair tied in pigtail. She was still crying, but it seemed to have lessened.

“Shhh.” The bluenette whispered. “You’ll be alright.”

Bright blue, tear filled eyes stared up at her

“Promise?” The girl asked in a wobbly voice.

Mari smiled at her in assurance.

“I promise. And I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?”

She smiled one last time before rushing out to assist her husband, who had managed to take out four more of the goons in her absence, leaving just the leader and one other conscious and fighting him. Her eyes suddenly widened. The kidnapper had recovered and was sitting up, pulling out his gun and aiming it at Adrien.

Marinette reached the fighting men just in time to push her husband out of the way of a bullet, taking it herself. Luckily, it meerly grazed her arm, so she would recover easily enough in time, with no lasting damage. Had it hit its intended target, she would have been made a widow before the end of her honeymoon.

When the bullet hit, she let out a slight hiss, already focussing on her target. Adrien was watching her wide-eyed from the corner of his eye as he finally knocked out the leader and the remaining opponent surrendered. A clicking sound reminded the couple of the shooter, and they spun around to him, only to see the police had finally arrived and the click was the handcuffs being secured around the crook’s wrists.

The police captain walked up to them, eyeing the burglars lying unconscious at their feet with raised eyebrows.

“Well,” He said. “You seem to have this under control.”

Marinette and Adrien stared at him awkwardly, both blinking owlishly at him in silence.

Linebreak<>kaerbeniL

They were taken to the police station for processing. There was a lot of paperwork involved, some minor-but-serious questioning (interrogation), and a lot of just sitting around waiting. In the end, the gave some half-hearted excuses of self defense lessons because of the Paris situation and were released.

Every story has its turning point. You might have a prologue, you most definitely have an intro of some sort that introduces the characters and the world and maybe a bit of the situation, perhaps leading you to the main plot point before the story ever actually gets there itself. All stories also have a turning point, some sort of catalyst that sets off the story up the hill of the weird story arcs your middle school teachers obsess over. The catalyst is what gets the entire story going past introduction. It’s what gives the push needed to get to the climax, or really just to the plot in general. It may be that the main character’s mother is murdered and they swear revenge. Perchance they discover some unknown artifact of mystical power or historical value. Maybe they find the first clue to finding that artifact. Sometimes, the catalyst is simply, “someone else is going to so I need to first.”

In this story, the catalyst comes as our protagonist couple was leaving the police station after being released from questioning. They just so happened to walk past an officer talking to a small, crying child. Marinette recognized the child as the girl she had rescued in the attack. She suddenly veered from her path to the door to go check on the child. Adrien simply rolled his eyes and followed her.

Upon reaching the officer and girl, Marinette crouched down, ignoring the officer’s questioning looks. The girl glanced up at the bluenette, her eyes red and face blotchy from crying, though it seemed her tears had dried up. Her eyes widened, clearly recognizing her savior, before she launched herself at Mari and started sobbing again. Marinette rubbed the girl gently on the back, whispering calming words into her hair as she listened to the litany of thank-yous streaming from the child.

Mari stood, still holding the crying girl and looked at the officer, whose eyes had softened at the sight. The child’s cries softened and she fell asleep with her head tucked into the crook of Mari’s neck. Mari hummed, stroking a hand through the girl’s hair.

“She must be exhausted after the whole ordeal she’s been through today.” Adrien whispered, trying not to wake her. “Where are her parents?”

The officer who had been with the child looked pained as he old them:

“Dead. Mother died three years ago in a car crash, according to our records, father was killed by one of the gunmen in the robbery.”

The three of them fell silent, all sharing a quiet moment of mourning.

“What will happen to her?” Mari asked.

The officer pursed his lips.

“She’ll have to go into the system, there’s not any living family in her records.”

Marinette’s eyes narrowed at him for a moment, her mouth thinning. Then her face went completely blank. Adrien sighed, dragging a hand down his face. He recognized that expression. She was about to recklessly do something she probably shouldn’t.

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There was a lot more paperwork after that. And then there was even more. And then more. There was a lot of paperwork. And Marinette might have used a bit of kwami magic to manipulate the process along. Just a bit. Really. In the end though, Adelyn Dubeau was officially adopted by Adrien and Marinette Agreste-Cheng. She was seven years old, and had lived in Bordeaux her entire life. Luckily, the couple already had a house of their own, having purchased one a few weeks before the wedding.

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Returning to Paris from their three week honeymoon with a seven-year-old child who had Adrien’s hair and Marinette’s eyes was really fun to explain to their friends and family. They had made a quick stop at the store to get supplies for Adelyn for the night, planning on doing a full shopping spree the next day, and then rushed home intent on delaying the conversation until the next day. Or the day after that. Or maybe the one after that. What they had not planned on or expected - and really, they should have - was everyone waiting for them in their apartment. Apparently, somebody *cough* Chloe *couch* had decided it was a brilliant idea to surprise the happy couple with a welcome home party and had roped the rest of everybody into helping. Obviously, they were not expecting the child.

There was a lot of blank staring, owlish blinking, and awkward shifting once everyone noticed Adelyn and Marinette and Adrien registered all the people in their living room.

“Hey… guys.” Adrien said, looking at his feet and rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “What are you all doing here?”

Chloe huffed. “I planned a welcome home party for you. Who is this?”

“This is… this is Adelyn. Adelyn Dubeau.” Marinette said slowly, seeming to get over her shock. “She’s our… she’s… well…”

“She’s our daughter.” Adrien cut in.

Marinette squeaked, tightening her grip on her new daughter’s hand. She watched her mother narrow her eyes at her, her father crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. Gabriel, who Chloe had managed to drag out of the house and office through excessive use of blackmail and the Gorilla, was just kind of staring at Adelyn blankly. Said Gorilla was as stoic as always. Kagami and Luka were both staring at the ceiling with ‘why me?’ expressions on their faces, and Chloe was watching them with her arms crossed and pursed lips. Grandpa Roland had gotten up and left the room, heading in the vague direction of the kitchen. Grandma Gina looked strangely proud. Adrinette smiled sheepishly at their family and friends.

They ended up telling the story from beginning to end three and a half times through before everybody was satisfied. About a third of the way through the second recount, Chloe had smacked a hand on her face and muttered,

“Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.”

Before pulling out her phone and scrolling through something. When they asked, she had stared at them blankly, as if they were idiots, before answering,

“I’m looking for a worthy present for my goddaughter.”

The room sat in silence after her announcement. You could practically hear the imaginary crickets. Marinette and Adrien hadn’t even bothered contradicting their blonde friend. If Chloe wanted to be godmother, Chloe was godmother. Kagami raised an eyebrow and glanced at her wife, before stoically turning to face the confused-yet-resigned couple.

“I get dibs on the next one.”

Adrien choked and Marinette turned bright red and meeped. Luka smiled serenely as he strummed his guitar. (Adrien blinked. Where did that guitar come from? He could have sworn it wasn’t there earlier.)

“And I get third.”

The Gorilla grunted and held up four fingers. Marinette made a keening sound and melted into a puddle of embarrassment.

By now, Adelyn had removed herself from her new parents and begun to explore her new home. She listened with half an ear to her new parents and… aunts? Grandparents? Whatever, and started poking at a rather hideous vase sitting on a low table in a corner. She wasn’t paying any attention by the time Chloe had declared herself godmother, instead finding herself fascinated with the number and variety of books on the shelf across the room. She meandered around the house, getting a general feel of the place, poking her head into a room where a rather grumpy man was punching some dough and muttering about ‘back in my day’ and ‘the proper way to’, before going back to the living room where everyone was gathered. She blinked, observing the simmering red puddle that used to be her new mom, but paid it no mind - grown ups can be rather silly sometimes - instead choosing to make a beeline to the man sitting in the patchwork armchair by the TV.

“Hello.” She said, blinking up at him.

He broke out of his catatonic state at the sound of her voice, and slowly turned to face her. She beamed up at him.

“Are you my new grandpa?”

He blinked at her slowly, once, twice. Then a slow, small smile spread across his face.

“Yes, child.” He said, reaching out a hand and running it through her hair once before folding his hands in his lap. “I’m your new grandfather.”

Marinete watched this from the corner of her eyes as she babbled incoherently at her parents and smiled slightly.

The next day when a whole truckload of boxes filled with top-of-the-line toys and designer children’s clothes was delivered to their home, she really couldn’t bring herself to be surprised, even as Adrien panicked and flitted around having a meltdown as his worldview tilted on its axis (and fell off the pedestal and bounced its way down the ravine). Instead, she just smiled and directed Adelyn to choose a few items to keep out for use before she put everything away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading to the end of the chapter! Or just clicking 'more notes'...  
>  Anyway, comments always welcome, feedback greatly appreciated!
> 
> This chapter's prompt:  
> Use the sentence -> She used to sit on the rooftops, waiting for him to return to her, waiting for him to make his presence known, waiting for him to let her know that he was all right, that he was still there.


	3. Kitsune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first of the Miraculous Robins is born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonjour, mes amis, and welcome back to 1 + 1 = uh... guys?
> 
> Instead of doing healthy things, like eating, today I decided to write another chapter of this story. Rest assured, I am working on another chapter of Secrets, and some more stories for my Prodigy AU, this is just what I ended up typing out.
> 
> Happiness for today and always!  
> "Hmmm, I guess we could leave a few survivors. It's not as fun, but hey! When's the last time you made a crater using llamas?" -Logdotzip
> 
> Chow for now~ TheUltimateFanGirl7

The thing about adopting a child, especially one around the age of Adelyn, is children are curious. For a pair of superheroes, with really important secret identities, which include two tiny, animal themed gods frequently out and about and a whole host of others that cycle through because one of those superheroes is the Guardian of a collection of the most powerful magical artifacts in the world, adopting a child, especially one around Adelyn’s age, probably wasn’t the best decisions they could have made. In retrospect, they should have trusted the system. But they didn’t, and neither of them could really find it in themselves to be upset about the new addition to their home, even if the kwamiis weren’t terribly pleased.

Adelyn got into absolutely everything! It drove them insane, but at the end of the day, she was their daughter and they would not trade her for anything. Tikki excelled in finding the positive in things, and she pointed out that having a curious child around the house allowed the kwamiis to practice their hiding and misdirecting skills. The kwamiis weren’t terribly pleased with her cheerfulness regarding the situation, but there really wasn’t anything they could do about it. Adelyn was there to stay.

Being a young, curious child, Adelyn frequently found herself exploring the apartment she now lived in. There were so many little nooks and crannies to discover! And she was determined to figure out what was going on in her new home. Her new parents were definitely hiding something, and they acted very shifty sometimes. Not to mention how they kept disappearing at the most random moments! Adelyn was determined to figure out what their secret was.

However, as stated previously, she was a young, curious child. She got distracted and sidetracked quite easily. Particularly by that hideous vase in the family room. It was approximately two feet tall and sat on a little table in the corner of the room. It was pear shaped, and painted a dull almost mustardy off-white with random neon lines squiggling all over it. Early on, she had narrowed her eyes at it and vowed to destroy it at all costs.

She quickly discovered this to be harder than anticipated. She had tried everything she could think of, but that stupid vase was proving itself to be made of some sort of unidentifiable indestructible material. Throwing it across the room didn’t work. Baking it at really high temperatures didn’t work. Hitting it with all manners of items didn’t work. She even tried filling it with water and leaving it outside in the middle of winter. All of her efforts were in vain. Nothing. Broke. That. Stupid. Vase. Were she mush older, she probably would have tried to tear out her hair in frustration. As it stood, she had to settle for throwing a tantrum and crying and screaming and just in general really confusing Adrinette. When she wasn’t trying (and failing) to break The Vase, she was snooping around trying to find out what her parents were hiding from her. She had managed quite easily to deduce that all the weird little nests made of fabric scraps and different plants spread at random through the apartment (and she means really random: on the table, in drawers, on countertops, in and on cupboards, in the fridge, scattered sporadically on the floor… literally everywhere and in the weirdest of places). Her parents had blanked and stammered out an excuse, running out of the room as faster than was probably feasibly humanly possible - not that Adely noticed, she was smart, certainly, but she was still only in CE1 - so she knew that there was something important about those nests.

Through all of her efforts, to both break the vase and discover what was being hidden from her, Trixx watched and grew strangely proud of the determined child.

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Months went by. Adelyn grew no closer to discovering her parents’ secret and this fact made her increasingly frustrated. Meanwhile, Trixx had made a decision that would no doubt get her in trouble with the Guardian and Tikki.

One particular day, just as Adelyn was getting ready to give up for lunch, she saw a flash of orange out of the corner of her eye. Her head whipped around too late to catch it. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, wondering distantly if she was seeing things, before slowly creeping towards where she had seen it. She peaked around the doorframe to look down the hallway the flash had gone towards. From the kitchen, she thought she heard a faint giggle, before her mother gave a sharp inhale and started whispering furiously. Adelyn snuck down the hall and popped her head into the kitchen. Marinette noticed her, waving her hand as if to clear something from the air or shoo someone away. She blinked owlishly at her daughter and smiled too widely.

“Was there something you needed, Adi?”

Adelyn just watched her blankly. Mari had been quick to get rid of… whatever it was, but she had still seen something orange floating in the room. She smiled innocently at her adoptive mother.

“Nope! I was just playin’ protend, Mama! Have you seen the evil hamster? I thought it came in here.”

Marinette visibly sagged in relief as she shook her head, her smile becoming more natural.

“No, sorry, kit. I haven’t, but you’re free to check anyway if you’d like.”

Adi beamed, even as she filed away Marinette’s reaction (which is now occurring to the author that the child should not have noticed, but I’m going to explain it away as a really smart child perfect for being a miraculous hero. I’m kinda basing the mirafam on the batfam, but with more sunshine and happiness) for later contemplation.

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More time passed. Marinette, and before long Adrien, became increasingly frustrated with… something. Adelyn kept seeing that orange flash, and more recently other colors as well. She had casually mentioned them to her parents one night at supper and observed carefully as both adults stiffened and immediately began waving off any concern, passing it off as an overactive imagination, perhaps increased by the trauma from… wow was The Bank Incident already a year ago? Of course, she thought that’s what they were saying. It was hard to tell through her mother’s near-incoherent babbling and her father’s stammering and shifty shifting.

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It all came to head about a month after The Dinner Talk. Ladybug and Chat Noir were locked in a heated battle with what looked to be a particularly nasty akuma. And they were losing. Adelyn was watching on TV, frantically chewing her nails, and worrying over her parents, both of whom had been checking some designs at Mama’s studio a block away from the attack when the akuma appeared.

She tensed and covered her face as Ladybug was knocked into a wall by the akuma and didn’t get back up.

That was when Trixx appeared. The kwamiis had all felt their connection to the Guardian flicker, and in the moment Trixx decided that secrecy be da*ned, she was not going to let the best Guardian they’d had in centuries die when she could do something about it!

Adelyn was obviously quite surprised when the miniature floating fox with a giant head flew into her face. Even more so when it started speaking.

Trixx explained what she thought was necessary, then urged the girl to transform. Ladybug and Chat Noir needed help, and Adelyn was the only one who could.

With a deep breath, Adelyn clutched the foxtail charm of her new necklace tightly in one fist and proclaimed loudly,

“Trixx, let’s pounce!”

When the light of her transformation faded away, she raced to her parent’s bedroom to study herself in the full mirror. She wore a red-ish orange crop-top t-shirt with a white oval on her chest and tummy, fading into the orange with a hazy ombre effect. The shirt ended about an inch or two [even though they’re French and use centimeters] above her waist, upon which was fitted a red-ish orange knee-length skirt. Under that she had knee-length dark grey socks, and her feet were adorned with black sneakers. She had a bushy fox’s tail connected somehow - magic - to her skirt, and she watched herself in the mirror with an odd expression as she discovered she could move the tail about as if it was actually an extension of herself. Her mask was a simple red-orange domino mask, and she had fox ears sticking out of her hair. Hair which, she blinked, had turned red-sih orange to match her clothing. Fingerless-black-gloved hands stretched out in front of her. She did a spin, twirling around her flute like a baton (the marching band twirler type, not the Chat Noir type) Uncle Luka had given her for her birthday. She grinned and did an experimental backflip. She’d never done gymnastics before, this was going to be fun! Then, at Trixx’s mental urging, accompanied by the sounds of crashing and screaming drawing nearer outside, she rushed out the window to join her parents in the fight.

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Her parents had frozen briefly upon seeing her, but had recovered quickly enough a civilian probably wouldn’t notice anything amiss. She introduced herself as Kitsune, and Ladybug worked her into the battle quite easily, despite obvious hesitance regarding the fact she knew it was her daughter who was only eight years old.

Once the battle had been finished and the akuma purified, her parents turned their full attention to her.

“What were you thinking?!” Chat Noir burst out rather suddenly, throwing his arms into the air. “This is very dangerous work, you could have been killed! Where did you even get a miraculous, have you been snooping in places you shouldn’t?”

Adelyn cringed and wrung her hands together, training her eyes on her feet.

“Sorry, Papa. It’s juust, I saw Mama on TV and got really worried and-”

Ladybug cut her off. Dragging a hand down her face, she said,

“That’s very admirable, honey, but I’m fine. I’ve taken worse before. I understand you wanted to help, but this was very reckless.”

“Sorry, Mama…” Adelyn mumbled miserably.

A sudden shriek broke through their bubble of obliviousness, reminding them of the fact that they were standing in the middle of the street, surrounded by civilians, to have this discussion, and maybe that wasn’t the best decision.

The murmurs of the people around them slowly grew louder as Ladybug and Chat Noir’s eyes widened, realizing they had an audience. The beeping of the miraculous reminded them further that they should have waited to have this discussion until they got home. Chat scooped up Kitsune and leaped to the rooftops, bounding away from the growing crowd, Ladybug following quickly after.

When they got home, the three of them let their transformations fall away. Plagg immediately floated off to the kitchen moaning for cheese, while Tikki and Trixx both hovered by their respective chosens. They all stood in awkward silence for a time, Marinette and Adrien wearily watching their daughter stare back at them defiantly, even if the defiance was hiding shame. Marinette finally broke the uncomfortable quietness with a sigh.

“It was really only a matter of time.” She muttered.

Adrien pursed his lips and looked out the window with his arms crossed, before he too sighed and walked across the room to sag down into the patchwork armchair.

“Adi,” he started gently, “We understand that you just wanted to help, but that doesn’t change the fact that hero work is incredibly dangerous.”

“And your costume wasn’t practical at all.” Marinette cut in.

Adrien huffed in amusement, a faint smile gracing his lips before he continued.

“We’re grateful for your help, sweety, but you can’t do it again.”

Adelyn looked away, tears brimming in her eyes.

“Amd why not?!” Trixx suddenly burst out, flying into his face. “She was brilliant! She was more than brilliant! You wouldn’t have been able to win so quickly without her illusions! And she cast them so perfectly. So effortlessly. She’s a perfect fox! You know this, Guardian!”

“Huh?” Marinette said, suddenly looking very confused.

“It’s part of the Guardian magic.” Trixx explained patiently. “You’ve already started calling her kit. It’s because you subconsciously recognize her as a fox.”

Tikki blinked before flying over to examine the child closer.

“She’s right, Marinette! Adelyn is a fox!”

“So this was inevitable.” Adrien muttered, looking at his hands forlornly.

Marinette sighed.

“It was probably inevitable that she’d join us as soon as we adopted her, Minou. We live in an apartment with a bunch of tiny gods. And now that I think about it, the kwamiis were no doubt attempting to speed along the process.

He didn’t respond.

For a moment, they all sat together, nobody saying a word, before Marinette spoke up again.

“That doesn’t change the fact what you did today was incredibly dangerous and reckless.” She admonished. “And you won’t be going out again-”

“What?! Why not?!” Adelyn burst out. “Trixx was the one who brought me her miraculous, and your kwamii said herself that I’m meant for it!”

Marinette raised an eyebrow, silently admonishing her daughter for interrupting, and continued.

“You won’t be going out again until Adrien and I have both cleared you for field work. That means training. Lots of training. We might not have had any, but we were older - even   
if not by much - and didn’t have a choice. If I have any say in the matter, which I do, I’m the decider, then I am not letting my daughter onto the battlefield of a seven year war without any training whatsoever.”

Adrien got up and walked over, putting a hand on his wife’s shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze in support. Adelyn looked satisfied, understanding that that was the best she was getting.

“And you’re grounded for your actions today-”

“What?! But-”

He held up a hand to silence her complaints.

“I understand why you did what you did and am grateful, but that doesn’t change the fact that your actions endangered all of us. You because of inexperience and Marinette and I through surprise at your appearance. You’re lucky we’re both good enough at thinking on our feet and adjusting to the situation. It’s also quite possibly your arrival through off Hawkmoth and his akuma as well. So. One month. Grounded.”

Adelyn pouted and sighed.

“Fine…” She grumbled.

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Chloe, Kagami, and Luka were all very clearly amused when they heard the news, both sighing that it was really only a matter of time, especially with those two as parents.

Adrinette had both grumbled and whined and *whaddya mean*ed, but they all laughed together just the same.

The couple ended up purchasing and moving to a new house in the countryside outside of Paris. Sure, it made commuting more challenging and time-consuming, but they had much more privacy, and much, much more room for training (and their eventual hoard, their friends and family had snickered as they helped the couple move).

Adelyn loved the new house: a three story brick home with a thatched roof and chimney. The yard was expansive, sprawling out over twenty acres and including a decent sized lake-pond and a small swath of forest.

What she could have done without was the training. Everyday, up at 4H du matin for a sprint around the edge of the property. This was followed by vigorous strength training, then shower and breakfast for school. After school and homework, she had language tutors, ballet, and gymnastics, followed by a quick supper. After supper was weapons training, investigative thinking, and trapeze. Saturdays were even worse because she had no school, and as such could have longer, harder lessons. Sundays were her only day off, and even then she was expected to study her languages and work on her stretches.

But she wouldn’t give it up for the world, if it meant she could become a superhero.

Throughout her training period, Paris frequently questioned their hero duo on the whereabouts of Kitsune. People asked all sorts of questions, including but not limited to: when did you have a daughter? Are you together? Where is she now? Have you forbidden her from fighting, it seemed like you weren’t pleased to see her at the fight against Tractator? Is Lila Rossi godmother, I haven’t been able to reach her to ask? (Alya’s question was promptly ignored). And so on and so forth.

Finally, a little over a year after she was first seen in public, Kitsune fought side by side with her parents, Ladybug and Chat Noir, against an akuma. Her skills had visibly increased since the last - and first - time the public had seen her.

The age of The Hoard had begun. As the sun set on the last decade, Kitsune grinned and leaped off the rooftop, landing in a three point crouch before rushing off into battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s a sad day everyone: I’m an honors student in English and I forgot how to spell full.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as always, criticism is the root of improvement, so please feel free to leave some!
> 
> This chapter's prompt is actually a writing challenge:  
> Write a short story (or novel, but would recommend short story) about something without ever once mentioning the main character's first name. You could go one step further and not mention the last name either. Even further and don’t give them a nickname.  
>  Good luck!


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